There is a superb explanatory label at the Art Institute, showing
how a Picasso painting was divided into two pieces. (I don't have
my notes on this with me; can a Kindly Contributor help? Can an
illustration of that painting and label be found?)

A long time ago, the London Zoo provided charming
tape-recorded accounts of each animal. The visitor activated the
talking labels by means of a little plastic Zoo Key available to
members.

Printed handouts with thumbnail images of the art are often
successful. Dia Beacon and many other museums use
handouts. Viewers can examine a handout when and where they
wish. Handouts provided viewers with a record, a memory of the
art seen at the Museum. Visitors can re-live their visit.

In my own shows of prints and sculpture, I have used handouts
and have avoided labels up on the wall. At Artists Space in New
York, I made labels in advance but took them down after hanging
the show because of the clutter of too many little rectangles up
on the wall. (I am not sure this was the right decision.) At the
Architecture + Design Museum in Los Angeles, the prints shown
were "bookprints" which usually had a substantial amount of text.
By hypothesis but not actual test, I concluded that labels would
not work well. At both shows, the wall space was mostly filled
with art. With more empty wall space, perhaps labels on the wall
would not appear overly fussy and active.

-- Edward Tufte

At a recent exhibit of French painting, I noticed that many of us were doing a very similar sort of dance - we would come up close to the paintings in order to read the labels, then retreat to get a better view of what were mostly pretty large canvases, followed by an advance to view some details. The only hand-outs available were so general as to be useless.

Either the labels should have been moved into the centers of the galleries, or we should have been provided with meaningful handouts (I'm partial to those that give me advice on the order of "and looking to the left, you will find the same theme repeated in the painting by...")

Apropos of this, I despise the tape machine thingies and always refuse them. Since they *replace* good labeling or handouts in some exhibits, the only way I can get comprehensive information about the exhibit is to purchase the catalog, which in many museums one generally does after going through the door to see the Egress.

The labeling issues discussed so far are dwarfed for me by problems of legibility: type face and size and label placement. My general impression is that small sans serif designs are overused.

My problem is worsened by the fact that I am taller than average and use bifocals. (Think Ichabod Crane repeatedly kneeling and standing or bending forward at the waist while his neck pulls back and he makes odd faces as he moves his glasses up and down in seach of focus.)

Assuming that museum exhibits will be labeled and that the labels should not compete with the display, what type face families, sizes, and placements (especially height from the floor) might be best?

In my first class in Museum Studies, we read an article from the turn
of the century about the documented phenomenon of "Museum Fatigue,"
with hilarious photos showing visitors crouching, craning necks,
stooped over, etc. to read labels and examine artifacts. You should
not still be suffering this way after 100 years!

I work in a history museum, and I believe art museum visitors are
unique in their willingness to read labels -- in fact, most people in
natural history, science, or history museums simply won't read more
than about two sentences at a time. This makes it mighty difficult to
provide sensible, balanced explanations for many exhibits...

One solution is "layering" -- a simple, large-type label for people in
a hurry (or with kids yanking at them!), with another more detailed
label below for those who want more information. Video and audio
components can also add depth, but should never replace good, basic
labels. Those headset things are so isolating! I hate to see people
standing around plugged into tape recorders instead of sharing their
ideas with each o

at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, there is a device which allows all text, including in depth 'read more' sections to be provided as a simple button press. The device is not limited to specific prerecorded tours. You can input artifact id codes found on any object in the museum to retrieve information about the object. Since headphones are not required, discussion can be promoted and on screen items shared with fellow museum goers. However, if one wishes, audio can be used in the traditional manner.